Thanks for writing this Gino! I have not read the book yet but have read several thorough reviews and keep coming away perplexed.
The biggest thought I have, though, is tangential to what you wrote and it stems from this statement you made:
“While this may be their experience within their mainline Protestant denominations in America, it would be hard to make that claim when looking at the church's growth outside the USA.”
It occurred to me, perhaps clearer than ever, that much of the Western LGBTQ movement seems to be a new form of colonization: Attempting to assert western cultures new norms around sexuality across the globe as normative for all cultures. This, as you say, is incredibly bold and perhaps a bit arrogant as well.
Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts, Andrew.
I think you are seeing exactly what I am offering here. Our lack of seeing things in context and as a perspective among others, can lead us to assume we have the best perspective. I'd say this is a kind of ethnocentrism. However, when we actively impose our ethnocentric assumptions onto others, without even accounting for their unique perspective, it can be a form of imperialism, maybe even colonialism.
Of course, I am not wanting to claim that Hays and Hays or anyone else is seeking to take over the world with their perspective (perhaps they are?), my point is similar to the point I tried to make in my piece on Richard Rohr's The Universal Christ, if we do not interrogate our frames (or at least recognize we have a frame!), we, even unwittingly, project imperialistic assumptions onto larger groups of people.
Hays and Hays would, in my opinion, do much better to simply offer their book as a cultural linguistic interpretation or even one of experience rather than the approach they seemed to take.
Thank Gino, you reminded me that I need to pull the Hays and Hays book off the To Be Read Shelf and get to it. The four or five reviews I have read have been surprising to me considering the standing of the two authors in the theology community. It's time I go and see for myself!
I'm looking forward to you unpacking this. This was an excellent opening. The feeling I've had with many of the books I've read in this discussion, very rarely have they actually been about sexuality.
Thank you for reading and commenting, Brian! I have had similar experiences in my reading. And frankly, I would be fine with it if the authors would do more to describe and interrogate their own frames and approach. That just seems off to me.
Thanks for writing this Gino! I have not read the book yet but have read several thorough reviews and keep coming away perplexed.
The biggest thought I have, though, is tangential to what you wrote and it stems from this statement you made:
“While this may be their experience within their mainline Protestant denominations in America, it would be hard to make that claim when looking at the church's growth outside the USA.”
It occurred to me, perhaps clearer than ever, that much of the Western LGBTQ movement seems to be a new form of colonization: Attempting to assert western cultures new norms around sexuality across the globe as normative for all cultures. This, as you say, is incredibly bold and perhaps a bit arrogant as well.
Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts, Andrew.
I think you are seeing exactly what I am offering here. Our lack of seeing things in context and as a perspective among others, can lead us to assume we have the best perspective. I'd say this is a kind of ethnocentrism. However, when we actively impose our ethnocentric assumptions onto others, without even accounting for their unique perspective, it can be a form of imperialism, maybe even colonialism.
Of course, I am not wanting to claim that Hays and Hays or anyone else is seeking to take over the world with their perspective (perhaps they are?), my point is similar to the point I tried to make in my piece on Richard Rohr's The Universal Christ, if we do not interrogate our frames (or at least recognize we have a frame!), we, even unwittingly, project imperialistic assumptions onto larger groups of people.
Hays and Hays would, in my opinion, do much better to simply offer their book as a cultural linguistic interpretation or even one of experience rather than the approach they seemed to take.
Looking forward to the next parts in the series!
Thank Gino, you reminded me that I need to pull the Hays and Hays book off the To Be Read Shelf and get to it. The four or five reviews I have read have been surprising to me considering the standing of the two authors in the theology community. It's time I go and see for myself!
I'm looking forward to you unpacking this. This was an excellent opening. The feeling I've had with many of the books I've read in this discussion, very rarely have they actually been about sexuality.
Thank you for reading and commenting, Brian! I have had similar experiences in my reading. And frankly, I would be fine with it if the authors would do more to describe and interrogate their own frames and approach. That just seems off to me.